Ladies Gaelic Football Senior League Div. 1: Mullingar Shamrocks 1-7 St Mary’s, Rochfortbridge 2-3

Mullingar Shamrocks senior Ladies Gaelic Football team continued with their recent good form with a great single-point victory over St Mary’s Rochfortbridge on Friday night. It was another game of high quality football in keeping with Westmeath’s standing as a Div. 1 team at national level with excellent defending on offer from both teams with Chloe Swarbrigg doing some great work for Shamrocks. St Mary’s did breach the Shamrocks defence early for a goal, Shamrocks with a Karen Hegarty pointed free reduced the lead before St Mary’s responded with a point from play. A Clara Thornton (who had another great match) shot for goal was turned over the bar by the St Mary’s keeper, Karen Hegarty pointed another free before Gemma Kerrigan kicked a fine point from play after a great run from midfield by Michelle Buckley.In between these scores, St Mary’s added a point and held a half-time lead of 1-2 to 0-4. 

Rochfortbridge extended their lead after the interval but two more pointed frees by Karen Hegarty levelled matters. A goal in the twentieth minute from St Mary’s K. McDermott might have proved crucial but the Shamrock ladies were not for turning. Melek Fagan broke from defence and after a heroic solo run found Karen Hegarty whose cross-field pass released Anna Jones, who had another superb game. When Anna goes one-on-one with the goalkeeper, the result is almost always inevitable. This time was no different and Anna shot powerfully to the net to level the match. A Karen Hegarty free in the final minutes secured the victory for Shamrocks.

Mullingar Shamrocks: Lauren McCormack; Rachael Hannigan, Chloe Swarbrigg, Melek Fagan; Shona McNicholas, Tara Fagan, Niamh Kennedy; Michelle Buckley and Anna Jones (1-0); Gemma Kerrigan (0-1), Emma Morris (Sofie Hegarty), Áine Melody; Clara Thornton (0-1), Karen Hegarty (0-5), Casey McDermott (Lisa Burke).